The wilderness blob
By Henry Lamb
web posted August 19, 2002
Kids were scared out of their wits, back in 1958, when a movie
called The Blob, dramatized a blob of goo that consumed
everything in its path, growing larger and larger in all directions.
The Wildlands Project has become the contemporary
"Wilderness Blob," consuming the land in its path, growing larger
and larger in all directions.
In California, the the Wildlands Project has laid claim to vast
reaches of land to convert to core wilderness areas, connected
by corridors of wilderness, surrounded by buffer zones,
squeezing people off the land and into high-density, growth-
limited "sustainable communities."
The Santa Barbara coast is being gobbled up by what has
become known as the "Lynn Scarlett" National Park, so named
because Lynn Scarlett, the Budget Director for the Department
of Interior, has joined forces with Rep. Lois Capps and the
Wildlands Project to designate 215,000 acres of prime real
estate as a national park - whether or not the local residents
want it.
Senator Boxer's never-ending quest for more wilderness targets
another 2.5 million acres of California land to designate as off-
limits-to-humans-wilderness, despite her staff's protestations to
the contrary.
All this is in addition to the existing wilderness areas and the
National Monuments designated by Bill Clinton in his sweeping
wilderness expansion program at the end of his term.
The Wilderness Blob is not confined to California. In Wisconsin,
state and federal tax dollars are used to consume 35,000 more
acres. In North Dakota, the federal government seeks to block
road-building on 266,000 acres, making it a defacto wilderness.
In Pennsylvania, the "watershed" approach is used, in New
York, they're closing nearly 300 hunting camps on 239,000
acres. In virtually every state, programs with various names are
acquiring private land, conservation easements, development
rights, or they are simply designating private lands as critical
habitat, for some bug or weed, or a wetland, or a heritage area,
or a scenic byway - any excuse to limit human use, and expand
the Wilderness Blob.
A common denominator in most of these projects is The Nature
Conservancy, perhaps the richest environmental organization in
the world, with assets in excess of $1 billion, which has received
more than $136 million in grants from the federal government
since 1996. Partnered with the Wildlands Project, and federal
and state governments, these environmental organizations are
orchestrating expansion of the Wilderness Blob.
Florida is a high priority target for the Wilderness Blob. Recent
efforts to "restore" the Everglades have become a focal point for
people all across the country who have been affected by the
Wilderness Blob. People who have great appreciation for the
environment, many who are practical stewards of the land, have
been patient for decades, as ever-tightening land-use restrictions
have been implemented.
There is a point, however, beyond which reason vanishes, and
idiocy sets in.
The stated goal of the Wildlands Project is to convert "at least
half" of the land area to wilderness, off limits to humans, and
manage "most of the remaining" land area for conservation
objectives. This goal is way beyond reason. Land owners and
resource users across the country are coordinating their efforts to
make sure that elected officials at every level know their desire
to stop the Wilderness Blob.
Steve McQueen, who made his film debut in The Blob movie,
spent most of the movie trying to convince officials that the Blob
was real. Finally, when the officials paid attention to what the
people were saying, they recognized the danger and solved the
problem.
Officials such as Barbara Boxer, Lynn Scarlett, and many, many
others, have ignored the people who have been warning of the
dangers posed by the Wilderness Blob. But enough people have
now been affected, who are joining forces and raising their
voices together, that their warnings can no longer be ignored.
Under the banner of the Sawgrass Rebellion, these people are
forming caravans from the West coast, from Ohio, and other
parts of the country, to gather in Naples, and Homestead,
Florida on October 17-19, to send an unmistakable message to
all government officials, that they want the Wilderness Blob
stopped.
Henry Lamb is the executive vice president of the Environmental
Conservation Organization, and chairman of Sovereignty
International.
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